Indian state cancels licence of cough syrup maker linked to child deaths
The domestic-only medicine sale revives global concerns over India’s major pharmaceutical exports, linked to the deaths of 10 children in 2023
India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu has cancelled the licences of a cough syrup maker linked to the deaths of several children over the past month, it said on Monday, as authorities search some of the firm’s sites on suspicion of money-laundering.
At least 19 children died in the central state of Madhya Pradesh after taking the syrup, which was banned after a test this month showed it contained nearly 500 times the permissible limit of diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical.
The medicine was only sold domestically, but the incident revives quality concerns about India’s pharmaceutical industry, a major global exporter whose syrups were linked in 2023 to the deaths of 10 children in Cameroon, Gambia and Uzbekistan.
“The manufacturing licences of Sresan Pharmaceuticals have been completely cancelled, and the company has been shut down,” the state government said in a statement.
Financial crime-fighting agency the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is searching seven premises linked to the company in Chennai, the state capital, on accusations of money laundering, a source said.
Some of these are homes of top officials of the state’s drug control office, said the source, who sought anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Telephone calls to seek comment from G. Ranganathan, owner of the Tamil Nadu-based firm, Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, who was arrested last week, went unanswered.